COLUMBIA, S.C. _ While Chris Silva jogged to the other end of the floor like it was nothing, the end of South Carolina's bench couldn't contain itself. Jair Bolden and Nathan Nelson grinned in the front row. Behind them, Jason Cudd laughed at T.J. Moss doing his impression of what just happened.
Silva, perhaps the SEC's most powerful player, just scored two points in the most awkward of ways. A potential rim-rocking dunk slipped out of his mitts for hands _ but the basketball still floated through the goal.
It was his night.
South Carolina has its second win over a ranked opponent in two weeks thanks to an 80-77 defeat of No. 16 Auburn on Tuesday at Colonial Life Arena.
Silva set career-highs in points (32) and rebounds (14) _ with four blocks _ as the Gamecocks (10-8 overall) improved to 5-1 in SEC play.
Auburn, without 6-foot-11 Austin Wiley because of injury, had no answer for South Carolina's big man. But it almost didn't matter.
The Tigers went on a 12-0 run to take a 73-71 lead with 4:01 left. When Silva was on the floor, the Gamecocks mostly dominated. But when he was off it, South Carolina had slippage.
Silva, who fouled out of both games last week, picked up his fourth at the 3:14 mark. A Maik Kotsar elbow jumper put South Carolina in a 75-all tie a minute later. After a potential go-ahead jump hook from Kotsar rimmed out, A.J. Lawson fouled Auburn's Jared Harper near midcourt with 56 seconds left.
He made both free throws.
But Felipe Haase responded with a corner 3-pointer off a broken possession to put South Carolina up, 78-77, with 25 seconds left.
Fittingly, Silva grabbed the rebound to end Auburn's last chance 23 ticks later.
After South Carolina took a double-digit lead three different times over the first 14-plus minutes, Auburn fought back for a 38-37 halftime advantage. There were five lead changes over the final three minutes of the period.
A key sequence happened around the 4:15 mark. Keyshawn Bryant tried dunking home a missed Tre Campbell 3-pointer and the Tigers sprinted the other way off the long rebound for a 3 of their own from Bryce Brown that cut the lead to four. Prior to Brown's splash, Auburn was 1 of 10 from beyond the arc. It made four consecutive 3s, including a Jared Harper try that put AU ahead by two early in the second half.
Free throws included, Bryant missed his first eight shots Tuesday. The drought ended with a slick finish off a Eurostep that put the Gamecocks up four midway through the second half.
